Wed Jan 29 13:24:06 IST 2025: **Supreme Court Questions Criminalization of Triple Talaq After Its Declaration as Void**
NEW DELHI, January 29, 2025 – The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday directed the central government to provide data on the number of criminal cases filed under the 2019 law criminalizing triple talaq. The court questioned the rationale behind penalizing a practice already deemed “null and void” by a 2017 ruling.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, criminalized triple talaq, making it a non-bailable offense punishable by three years’ imprisonment. However, the court’s bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, noted that the practice was declared void by a Constitutional Bench in 2017. They questioned the continued criminalization, asking if the act of uttering triple talaq remained a crime even after the marital relationship continued to exist.
The court specifically requested data on the number of FIRs registered, particularly those in rural areas. The Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta, argued that the law aimed to deter the abandonment of Muslim women, emphasizing the irrevocable and instantaneous nature of triple talaq. He compared the threat of triple talaq to criminal intimidation, already an offense under the Indian Penal Code.
However, petitioners, including Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind and Samastha Kerala Jamiathul Ulama, challenged the law’s constitutionality, arguing that it disproportionately punishes Muslim men and that the act is graver than other offenses like rioting or kidnapping. They contended that triple talaq, after the 2017 Supreme Court ruling, had no legal effect, making its criminalization redundant.
The court acknowledged that no one present considered triple talaq positive, but expressed concerns about criminalizing a practice declared void. The next hearing is scheduled for the week commencing March 17.
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